The Mohawk are one of the original five nations to
form the League of the Iroquois or the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This confederacy
or league was formed around A.D.(C.E.) 1450 - 1580 to establish peace
between the five nations and with other nations in the Northeast. A spiritual
leader, Dekanawidah (Huron by birth living with the Seneca) and Hiawatha
(Onondaga living among the Mohawk) are the legendary leaders to work out the
alliances and establish the
Great Binding Law: Gayanashagowa. This pre-European unification was used by
Franklin and Jefferson as a preliminary model for the unification of the
original 13 colonies that becomes the United States. In 1722 a sixth nation, the
Tuscarora. Today this group is referred to as the Six Nations, especially since
Iroquois is a French derivation of the Algonkian term for 'adders'.

Haudenosaunee /League of the Iroquois

Seneca

People of the Great Hill

Keepers of the Western Door

Cayuga

People of the Mucky Land

Keepers of the Pipe

Onondaga

People of the Mountains

Keepers of the Fire and Wampum

Oneida

People of the Standing Stone or Granite

Mohawk

People of the Flint

Keepers of the Eastern Door

Tuscarora

Shirt Wearing People

taken in by the Oneida ca 1722

I. Origins

The origins of the original five Iroquoian
nations that formed the League of the Iroquois is quite controversial in
archaeological circle. Certainly, they have considerable antiquity in the area
of upstate New York, possibly more than 4,000 years. Some scholars feel
that the linguistic relationship to the Cherokee indicates and ancient
connection, but the question remains who broke off from whom and when. In
the Finger Lakes region of upper New York State the Owasco tradition and
representative sites have many traits are felt to represent earlier Iroquoian
traditions. Owasco tradition flourished from A.D. (C.E.) 900 - 1400 with large
palasaded villages, longhouses, and increasingly sedentary CBS farming
practices. This created a landscape of forested upland hunting areas and cleared
lowland agricultural areas that were managed with controlled/seasonal
burning. European settlers seemed to have either not understood that they were
looking not at a wilderness, but at a better managed landscape; or they just
simply lied. Eastern Woodland Indian people were all CBS farmers with cultivated
fields/ villages the domain of women and forests the domain of men.

II. Traditional Culture

Tradtional Iroquois culture with the
formation of the League of the Iroquois would have been in place between
A.D. (C.E.) 1450 and 1650, when impact from French, Dutch and English began to
bring changes. However, the Iroquois were able to maintain there power longer
through the Covenant Chain trade alliances between various Native American
groups and Europeans. Wampum shell was a medium of exchange for a considerable
time on the frontier. Traditional cultural breakdown really comes more with the
changes brought on by the United States.

The Iroquois Confederacy was a powerful
force in the struggle for the fur trade and frontier of colonial and post
colonial America. The Covenant Chain establish competitive trade relations with
Native American Nations and invading European powers (French, English and
Dutch), but also brought resentment and jealousy. Even when the various
Iroquois nations tried to maintain neutrality in conflicts like the
Revolutionary War, Americans constantly eroded traditional land holdings often
pressuring various groups to move to Canada, Wisconsin and even West to Indian
Territory (Oklahoma). A revitalization movement to restore traditional ways
under Handsome Lake after 1799 continues to have an effect and is generally
referred to as the Longhouse Movement.

Even with the many conflicting
influences of European Americans such as missionaries and non-Indian schools the
Six Nation people have held on to traditions like lacrosse and elements of the
Longhouse Movement. Modern traditions have also emerged such as the tradition of
Mohawks working the high steel workers on bridges and skyscrapers.

The Iroquois communities are all listed
to include the Mohawk (in bold):